Lewis County’s Moratorium on Pot Pushes Out Potential Grower

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Lewis County staff has been granted more time — another six months — to complete marijuana regulations.

The Board of County Commissioners approved renewing its moratorium on marijuana at its Monday meeting.

The board has voted every six months to renew the moratorium on marijuana operations since December 2013.

And some people can’t wait any longer.

Summer Chapman said she and her partner, Gabe Koth, will be selling their 

farm in Salkum and moving to Mason County where they hope to begin their marijuana growing business. 

“We were really disappointed in how slow the process has been,” Chapman said in public testimony at the meeting. “It’s been kind of a bummer for us because we really put our lives on hold wanting to build our lives in Lewis County. … It’s really unfortunate we’re being pushed out.”

Chapman said she talked to nearly everyone they do business with, and read a letter of support from one of those people at the meeting.

The letter stated both Chapman and Koth, who hold a marijuana license, are good people, who spend their money at local small businesses.

“I have also seen the druggies and I will say, honestly, they are not,” Chapman read. “They are just good, honest people trying to make a living.”

The continued moratorium is running them out of the county, the letter stated.



“Let them grow their pot and leave them alone,” Chapman read.

Director of Lewis County Community Development Lee Napier said staff and the Planning Commission are still completing code regulations concerning marijuana producers, processors and retail sales in unincorporated areas of the county. 

Napier said there will likely be recommended changes to water and solid waste codes when their work has been completed. 

Commissioner Bill Schulte said it’s “frustrating” that it has taken so long to finish and pass an ordinance.

The legalization of marijuana and how to regulate it was a new topic for the state as well as the county, and Napier said the Planning Commission requested a “considerable amount of information” to ensure they were knowledgeable about the topic.

The research by the Planning Commission and county staff has taken some time, she said, and is the main reason for the request to renew the moratorium.

“It’s a new industry so none of us are familiar with it and we wanted to do our due diligence to make certain that we bring something that’s compatible here in the community,” Napier said.

Even if the board eventually passes an ordinance allowing marijuana operators in certain areas, it is still requiring a federal permit, which chapman previously said is unfeasible.

However, Schulte said he expects the federal government will eventually legalize marijuana across the nation, so the county wants to be ready with proper codes and zoning.